News Nosh 4.28.20

by APN 04/28/20
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APN's daily news review from Israel - Tuesday April 28, 2020

Quotes of the day:
“I want to convey to Israeli society and the world a message stemming from my deep, bleeding wound: This conflict has taken victims from all of us, and it does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, between men and women, between adults and children. So I say to you: Enough hatred and resentment. Let’s live in peace and love because we [Palestinians], just like you, love life and are doing our best just to get by.”
--Yakoub Rabi, whose wife Aisha was killed in 2018 by a settler teen, said in a speech at the Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony Monday night.*

"What is threatening to many members of the Israeli public about the (joint) Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony, even in its virtual format this year, is not only the cooperation with the 'enemy.' While on an overt level the ceremony arouses harsh opposition because of the standing shoulder to shoulder alongside bereaved Palestinian parents and siblings: In the public subconscious the ceremony is frightening because it challenges the necessity of death. By its very nature, the ceremony undermines the official effort to provide a series of justifications for death, in order to alleviate the pain somewhat, so that death will be acceptable. And of course that helps to prepare the ground for a continuation of the occupation and the fighting."
--Yaki Sagi, a clinical psychologist, writes in Haaretz.**

"Where is the Shin Bet when you need it, where are the police and the security forces? Who will protect us from the tens of thousands of ticking bombs that will be found at the foot of our children's rooms and bedrooms? For 20 years we were scared to death of them, 20 years we were warned about them, since the Second Intifada we have not allowed them to stay here (overnight) and suddenly the danger was gone and with it, the ban on staying overnight in Israel."
--Gideon Levy writes about how corona changed Israelis' perception of Palestinians - even if for a short time.***


Front Page:

Haaretz

Yedioth Ahronoth

  • To be a free people (Hebrew)
  • Look inwards // Raanan Shaked
  • Together in the storm // Hanoch Daum (Hebrew)
  • Today at 11:00AM a siren will be heard for two minutes, at 20:00 the Independence Day celebrations will begin
  • Starting to return to school

Maariv This Week (Hebrew links only)

  • Close to heart, keeping distance - Israel unites with the 23,816 fallen IDF soldiers and the 4,166 victims of terror
  • The legacy of the fallen // Binyamin Netanyahu
  • Together forever // Reuven Rivlin
  • Returning to school
  • Lapid’s revenge
  • Between memory and independence: Miriam Peretz (woman who became symbol after two of her sons were killed in army) opens her heart in a personal interview
  • Jewish and demographic: The surprising numbers of Israel 2020
  • In the name of the father: Children who chose to serve in units their parents served in
  • A height of their own: Why did five prime ministers agree to withdraw from the Golan Heights?
  • Fateful memory: The story of the young tank officers who died in the Suez Canal
  • Corona tours: Dr. Nirit Ofir rescues Israeli travelers

Israel Hayom

  • Until tears we will love - 72nd Independence Day anniversary (Photos of military graves and of hospital workers holding Israeli flags)
  • The lighters of the nation: Blue-and-White pride - 13 special women and men, 12 torches and one glorious country
  • Peace between us: Even in this crisis we will exit stronger
  • All the truth in your face - Col. Ofir Levius, who was injured in battles and lost a leg, prepares for the role as Chief Education officer
  • Exclusive - My victory - 10 years after she was run over and critically wounded, Shahar Grinspan now talks and walks
  • “Now you won’t take my hand in your my hand, because I won’t give it to you.” (Singer and composer) Mati Caspi is isolating



Top News Summary:
Bereaved families of fallen soldiers and civilians killed in hostile actions were banned from marking Memorial Day at cemeteries - but some managed to do so anyway, while others shared their stories online, and Israel will be spending Independence Day locked at home instead of making BBQs at nature parks, while Israel approved sending small children back to school next week, as the effects of the coronavirus crisis continued making top stories in today’s Hebrew newspapers.

It was interesting to note that many of the stories that the papers shared this year on Memorial Day were not just about the heroism of those killed in wars and military operations and terror attacks, but about the living who were dealing with trauma - a subject that was long considered private and not heroic. Yedioth (Hebrew) ran a feature where popular singer Idan Reichel and his friend, Shai Siman-Tov, who was injured in the 2014 Gaza War and became paralyzed, interview Israeli soldiers across the country who became physically disabled. Maariv ran a fascinating interview with Asaf Britt, who shared his most psychologically difficult experiences in the military and how they affected him and how he dealt with that by sharing them publicly through an organization named “Shrapnel.” (See Features below.) And Haaretz’s Amos Harel wrote about those who did not get over the trauma of the last Lebanon War and dealt with by sharing the experiences in books and film. (See Features below.) Also worth reading are commentaries by Gideon Levy, Yaki Sagi and Hanoch Daum in the ‘Other Analysis/Commentary’ section below.

Elections 2020 / Netanyahu Indictment News:
Some called him vengeful, others said he was confusing. Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid surprised everyone when he said that he would vote with the Likud party in order to prevent Kahol-Lavan leader Benny Gantz from being prime minister when his turn came up. Gantz is set to replace Netanyahu as prime minister after a year and a half. However, the agreement between the Likud and  Kahol-Lavan states that the rotation agreement can be ended by at least 75 MKs voting to end it. "The Likud bloc has 59 MKs and we have 16 MKs. A total of 75,” said Lapid at the Knesset Committee. "At any given moment when Bibi doesn't feel like rotating, all he has to do is come to me and say - we want to get those laws back to their original wording. And I want to say something to the committee: we will say yes." He later clarified he would do all he can to unseat Netanyahu. Lapid denied the possibility that his theoretical move could lengthen Netanyahu’s tenure. Yedioth Hebrew summed it up saying that “the animosity that Yair Lapid feels now toward his former partner Benny Gantz has gone up a notch.” At the Knesset committee debate, where Likud and Kahol-Lavan were trying to change Israel’s Basic Law to facilitate their coalition deal, there was great opposition by the left-wing, which climaxed with Meretz party MK Tamar Zandberg being forcibly removed. Haaretz+ wrote that, anyway, the Netanyahu-Gantz rotation agreement may be toothless. Lapid said at a press conference that “The moment of truth has arrived - and Kahol-Lavan collapsed. Benny Gantz is not fit to be prime minister. Gantz and Ashkenazi should not lead here on - they could not withstand the pressure.” (Maariv)

Corona Quickees:

  • Israel's coronavirus death toll up to 208, with 15,589 confirmed cases - Decrease in number of patients in serious condition and those requiring respiratory assistance continues as nation mulls reopening of economy and education system, at least 7,375 have recovered from the virus. (Ynet)
  • Barring on entry of non-Israelis extended until May 16 - Non-Israelis will not be allowed to travel to Israel until May 16, Israel Airports Authority said on Monday in a statement to foreign airliners. (Ynet)
  • With school trips to Poland canceled, could the coronavirus affect the memory of the Holocaust? - Isael's Education Ministry canceled Holocaust commemoration trips to Poland for high-school students due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some worry that the memory of the Shoah could become blurred. (Haaretz+)
  • USAID blocks corona relief funding for Gaza due to Hamas control of Strip - A senior administration official said "the Trump administration is not supporting assistance to Gaza.” (Israel Hayom)
  • West Bank and Gaza Begin Return to Routine After Two Days Without New Coronavirus Cases - There are no longer COVID-19 patients in intensive care or on ventilators in either area, the industrial sector in the West Bank will step up production next week. (Haaretz+)
  • Jordan eases coronavirus curfew and reopens more businesses - Amman instated a nationwide curfew nearly 40 days ago that ordered the country's population of 10 million to stay at home. The relaxation in curbs on movement in the capital follows a similar move last week in southern Jordan, including the Red Sea port city of Aqaba. (Israel Hayom)
  • Iran's coronavirus death toll rises by 71 to 5,877 - The total number of diagnosed cases in Iran, one of the Middle Eastern countries hit hardest by the novel coronavirus, which causes respiratory disease COVID-19, has reached 92,584, he said. (Agencies, Ynet)

 

Other Quick Hits:

  • Tuesday - Police: Palestinian stabs Israeli woman, is shot by witness - Medics who arrived at the scene said the woman, 62, was in moderate-to-serious condition and was being taken to a nearby hospital. The 19-year-old from Tulkarem was shot and seriously wounded by a passer-by. (Israel Hayom)
  • Rare Humane Israeli, Arab Gesture After ‘48 War Revealed - With international aid, Israel and Jordan swapped dozens of psychiatric patients soon after the fighting ebbed. The story was discovered through letters collected in a file at the Israel State Archives titled “Jewish psychiatric patients in Bethlehem.” The hospital was run by British medical services, with a British director and Arab doctors. Its wards had both Arab and Jewish patients, and the kitchen was kosher. (Haaretz+)
  • *Online Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony Attracts 200,000 Viewers - Online vigil broadcast from Tel Aviv and Ramallah calls for peace and reconciliation and features grieving family members from both sides of conflict; 'Our pain is the same,' says father of Palestinian killed in 2000. Communications Minister Amsalem criticized Israeli public radio’s Reshet Bet for broadcasting an ad for the event, which was held in Tel Aviv and Ramallah. (Haaretz+ and Ynet)
  • WATCH: Israeli Air Force prepares for Independence Day flyover - In an effort to contain the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and limit community spread, this year's scaled down flyover will stay away from crowds. (Israel Hayom)
  • Four militia members, three Syrians killed in Israeli strike, monitor says - ‘Hostile targets’ coming from Lebanese airspace were earlier reported as shot down. Four others were injured, Syrian news agency reports, including a child. (Haaretz and Ynet)
  • Israeli Drone Crashes in Gaza, Military Blames Technical Error - Media outlets in Gaza say members of Hamas retrieve crashed drone. (Haaretz+)
  • Palestinians to pay damages to attack victims, Jerusalem court rules - A Jerusalem court has ordered the Palestinian Authority to pay nearly $150 million in damages to the families of people killed in militant attacks, following a lawsuit brought by Shurat Hadin, a [right-wing - OH] legal advocacy group, on behalf of relatives of victims from a number of attacks, mostly carried out during the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s. (Agencies, Ynet)
  • U.S. to Argue It Never Left Iran Nuke Deal, in Bid to Force Arms Embargo, Report Says - Secretary of State Pompeo's reported move is 'part of an intricate strategy to pressure the United Nations Security Council to extend an arms embargo on Tehran. (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • Arab League to meet over Israel’s plans to annex parts of West Bank - Extraordinary session in midst of pandemic will bring together foreign ministers via videoconference to discuss political, legal and financial support to Palestinians. (Times of Israel and Ynet)
  • Mideast economies take massive hit with oil price crash - Crude-dependent countries scramble to compensate for losses from a key source of state revenue, with several already plagued by social unrest. (Times of Israel)
  • Explained - From Iran to Saudi Arabia: Why Is Yemen Still at War - Although the conflict began five years ago and has roots in failed pro-democracy protests during the Arab Spring, tensions go back years earlier. (Agencies, Haaretz)
  • Protester killed in unrest in Lebanon's Tripoli - Demonstrators attack banks, clash with security forces in port city as virus outbreak exacerbates longstanding economic crisis and Lebanese pound sinks to record low. Hezbollah blames 'negative' central bank performance. (Agencies, Haaretz)


Features:

Twenty Years After the Lebanon Withdrawal, Ghosts Come Back to Haunt Israel
The forgotten, nameless war is now a topic of a book, a TV series and a forum where soldiers recount their tales. But the story never ended with Israel's exit. It never does. (Amos Harel, Haaretz+)
"I started to understand the causes of my rage attacks, my uncontrollable anger"
On one of the nights of Operation Cast Lead in 2008, while waiting for the order to take them into Gaza, Asaf Britt released his soldiers to watch a game of Maccabi at the nearby kibbutz pub. He was left alone in a tent and traumatic memories of the battles he fought in flooded him. He prayed for a missile to land on the tent and take him. He, who was there during the Second Intifada, during Operation Defensive Shield and in the Second Lebanon War, who saw his friends killed near him, who was nearly killed himself - was unaware of the damage left by his military service, until the psychological crash he experienced. “Actually, nothing significant happened that caused the internal explosion I experienced," he says today. "When I came home from reserve duty, the image I saw in the mirror was a ghost. I was a walking dead man. People saw it on me, but I was in complete denial. I didn't understand my harsh reactions to various events I went through." At that moment Britt decided to choose life and take care of himself. The highlight of the process was at the "Shrapnel" Memorial Day ceremony, in which he revealed to the audience his family, friends and subordinates had what he was going through. When the events of October 2000 (Second Intifada) broke out, Britt, then a young 21-year-old officer, was on a military bus that drove about 20 recruits on their way from Mount Ebal (in West Bank). Because of Britt’s and the company commander’s lack of knowledge of the area they found themselves on Highway 57. The hike was soon stopped by an ambush by Tanzim (Palestinian Fatah) forces, "all with murder in their eyes.” In a moment's decision, Britt got off the bus without a weapon, "To transmit zero hostility," and immediately got the butt of gun at his head and four cocked Kalashnikovs held to his head. "I entered into a state of indescribable peace and acceptance, and said goodbye to my parents, my acquaintances, my ex-girlfriend, too," he said. "A round of gunfire, apparently shot by Jibril Rajoub's men, interrupted the incident. The Palestinians dispersed and I jumped into the bus, which got a few goodbye rounds, from which I was injured in my hand.” At the end of a probe of the incident, the battalion commander said to me accusingly, "I would have preferred 21 people killed, as long as the incident had not taken place in that way." These words shook Britt in real time. "What kept me going was the fact that I was complete with the decision I made." A year and a half later, [in 2002 Operation Defensive Shield - OH]  after the murderous attack on the Park Hotel in Netanya on the night of the Seder, the commander told him by phone: "Britt, the war has begun.” The next morning, the unit entered Jenin and later was called to occupy the Muqata (Palestinian President’s Office] in Ramallah. (In Jenin,) suddenly there was a shout from the an IDF Egoz unit patrol, which was ahead of them. Boaz Pomerantz, whom he met preparing for officer’s course, was killed. "The scream doesn't leave my mind," says Britt. And another event doesn't leave his mind. Near the Muqata (in Ramallah), the force noticed an old man leaning on a stick: "We didn't take a chance. We shot, and he died. Apparently, we followed the procedures, we didn't do anything wrong." During the five days in the Muqata, with a thin wall separating the fighters from (Palestinian President Yasser) Arafat's besieged office, Britt was tasked with overseeing the Palestinian ambulances arriving to evacuate dead and wounded from the compound. "Images you can't forget," he says. After Operation Defensive Shield, it became clear to Britt that he would not continue in the army: "I wanted to go home, to the kibbutz, get on the tractor and to plow fields." But after a four-year hiatus, as a reserve officer he returned to the battles of the Second Lebanon War. "In the battle of Bint Jbeil, when we got back to the brigade's point, we noticed eight covered bodies," he recalls. "We thought these were terrorists' bodies, until we noticed the shoes and understood that they were our soldiers. We were all day in the fiery heat next to the bodies with the severe stench of death." On the last night of the war, Britt's (reserve soldiers) force observed the operation of a force of draft soldiers, among them his younger brother, Yuval. Suddenly his brother's voice ceased to be in contact on the walkie talke and in his place came the voice of his deputy. "At that moment, I knew that my brother, 300 meters away, was killed, and I couldn't do anything," Britt describes. The eternity that passed until Britt realized that Yuval was not killed, but wounded, cannot be measured. When the war ended, he returned home to his apartment in Tel Aviv. "I went in for a shower but the stench of sweat and the smell of death didn't leave me for days," he said. Today, Britt is the manager and one of the partners of Tel Aviv's cafe, ”Hatachtit” (Subway). Together with Millie (Camilla) they raise four-year-old Louis. "After years of denial, outbursts of rage, severe loneliness and seclusion, the connection to 'Shrapnel' first allowed me to tell my story. The flooding of things is important and reinforcing," he says. In the summer of 2014, eight years after the Second Lebanon War, Yaron Adel and Shlomi Askira, Nahal Brigade soldiers, ‘Lebanon 2 alumni,’ established "Shrapnel," an apolitical nonprofit aimed to provide a space for the combat experience in Israeli discourse and to allow fighters, those supporting fighters, parents, spouses, friends and others share and process the personal and social effects of trauma. (Ruti Kadosh, Maariv)
Another Circle of the Bereaved: Brothers, Sisters of Fallen Soldiers
Vahav died in April 1983 in an ambush in Lebanon. He was buried alongside an uncle who died in the 1973 Yom Kippur War. His brother Avishai talks about what it’s like to lose a sibling in war. (Ofer Aderet, Haaretz+)

Elections 2020/Netanyahu Indictment Commentary/Analysis:
Celebration and Concern (Haaretz Editorial) On Tuesday evening, Israel will celebrate its 72nd Independence Day under the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus – everyone in their own houses, every family by itself, with no possibility of gathering together and uniting as a community. The feeling of being closed in and the sorrow that will accompany this day to a large extent symbolizes the state of the country, which currently seems to be imploding under a government that is undermining democracy and planning to annex territory.
Jerk? Doormat? Or Perhaps a Crook? (B. Michael, Haaretz+) It is inconceivable that Kahol-Lavan leaders, Benny Gantz and Gaby Ashkenazi, are such complete imbeciles, or such entirely spineless creatures, that happened into the joint leadership of a party completely by chance. Nature abhors such cruel coincidence. Given all this, I offer a third theory. More complimentary. More pleasant. More befitting of a pair of generals who killed so many Arabs for the sake of their nation: The malice option. Fraud. Deceit. Not the common, petty con of vote-stealing, but rather a premeditated scheme. A clever plot to rescue Bibi from prosecution and prison and keep him in power. This is the only possible explanation for many of the bizarre actions taken by Ashkegantz (or Gantzkenazi): the sickening boasts about how many Arabs they killed; the decision to add Moshe Ya’alon and his boys to their party, despite explicit warnings that they were moles. There’s no other explanation for the right-wing/Haredi-Zionist mantle that has hovered above them from the start: Hod Betzer, Chili Tropper, Yoaz Hendel, Zvi Hauser, right-wingers all, settlers in their souls, pro-annexation to the bone, provided service to Bibi in their pasts and presumably also in their futures. That is also the only way to make sense of the lame, limping, crippled and unintelligible election campaign that the slate of retired generals led.
After Their Deal With Netanyahu, Three Perspectives on the Death of Israel’s Labor Party (Ravit Hecht, Haaretz+) The committee of Israel’s founding party voted Sunday to let what’s left of it join the coalition. Here’s what that means for Labor’s present and future.

Other Commentary/Analysis:
**It’s Frightening to Think That Any Death Was in Vain (Yaki Sagi, Haaretz+) What is threatening to many members of the Israeli public about the Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony, even in its virtual format this year, is not only the cooperation with the “enemy.” While on an overt level the ceremony arouses harsh opposition because of the standing shoulder to shoulder alongside bereaved Palestinian parents and siblings: In the public subconscious the ceremony is frightening because it challenges the necessity of death.
If our fallen sons left us a will, it would be the need for internal unity (Yossi Ahimeir, Maariv) Each of the fallen is a whole world. Life stories that were stopped, unborn children, unwritten books. A heavy blood price paid to ensure independence and continuity.
Crises Have the Potential to Augur Change (Yagil Levy, Haaretz+) In all the debate about the ramifications of the coronavirus, one issue has almost completely disappeared – the diplomatic opportunities created by this crisis. As an example, consider a discussion held at the Institute for National Security Studies on April 20 about the impact of the virus on Iran. The speakers agreed that the coronavirus had significantly weakened Iran’s economy, which had already been hurt by the resumption of Western sanctions in 2018, after the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal signed in 2015. Therefore, the discussion concluded, even if the economic crisis doesn’t divert Iran from its aspirations of regional hegemony and nuclear capability, at least its ability to realize these goals has been undermined. In the political-military thinking of the 1990s, the weakening of an enemy created opportunities to advance diplomatic moves. Thus, for instance, diplomats exploited the PLO’s weakness to promote the Oslo Accords, and Military Intelligence interpreted Syria’s weakness following the dissolution of the Soviet Union as an opportunity to advance peace negotiations. But in the military-style thinking that has come to dominate the political debate some 30 years later – of which the INSS is a leading exponent – an enemy’s weakness is seen mainly as an opportunity to up the military offensive against them. What was never even mentioned at the INSS discussion? The fact that Iran’s weakness is also a diplomatic opportunity.
Dreamers, again (Nadav Shragai, Israel Hayom) The challenges of this Memorial Day and Independence Day teach us that the modern-day return to Zion is not something to take for granted.
How Coronavirus Sparked an Open Season of Hate for Haredi Jews (Avi Shafran, Haaretz+) The coronavirus crisis has set off a blood libel against Orthodox Jews, from Brooklyn to Bnei Brak. And liberal Jews have kindled itץ
A year of mutual responsibility (Hanoch Daum, Yedioth Hebrew) The next independence year for us, Israel's 73rd year, will be different. Because of all the yes-Bibi or no-Bibi arguments, we did not notice that in the last decade we went abroad, shopped, worked and spent. Even security-wise, we enjoyed relative peace. It will take a long time...until we get back to our former lives. You have to look at reality honestly: it's going to be tough. And to get through it we have to be together. And we see that there are still, even now, those who continue to search for something to quarrel about: In the committee in the Knesset, the madness goes unabated: 600 ministers and new deputy ministers are going to be appointed while about a million citizens sit at home, and in the background exhausting and uncompromising quarrels between state attorneys. We, the citizens of this good country, look at all of this from the side and realize that not everyone has yet understood the magnitude of the hour. We have reached a moment in our history as a nation, and it is also a moment in the life of each of us, where we are required to grow up. In our 73rd year, perhaps more than ever, we will need free love. Mutual responsibility. Those who have them will have to be help those who do not. Our leaders did right when they prevented (another) elections. They were responsible. But they will also have to act humbly. Another residence (for Netanyahu - OH) at the taxpayer's expense might be (something) that we could have ignored in ordinary years, but not at this difficult time. In the 73rd year, many of us, the brothers of the house of Israel, will face trouble, and it is precisely the time to set aside the camps and tribes. Go from  law and move towards grace. It really doesn't matter if you are ultra-Orthodox or Arab, right-wing or left-wing. Corona entered every house in Israel. It forced social distress and economic anxiety on us. We are now on the ship together, all the tribes of Israel, and to survive the storm we must strive in the same direction. In partnership. With friendship. As one person. The 73rd year of independence that is now opening is a year we will need to transcend. Each and every one of us. They helped every one his neighbour; and every one said to his brother, Be of good courage. (Biblical verse)
***Israel after the Corona: One epidemic, one state - and now the Arabs are part of it (Gideon Levy, Haaretz Hebrew) Suddenly Palestinians can sleep here and it is not dangerous, suddenly there is appreciation for the Arab health care workers, and for the first time in Israelis' history, they felt a bit what it was like to live under lockdown. Will the corona virus bring the recognition that Jews, Arabs, Palestinians - they are all human?...In the early days of the epidemic, an apparent marginal event occurred that did not attract special attention: Israel announced that it would allow tens of thousands of Palestinian workers from the Occupied Territories to stay overnight in Israel, so that they could continue working there. Boom. Tens of thousands of terrorists are forced to stay in Israel, and in particular during the period of the epidemic? Where is the Shin Bet when you need it, where are the police and the security forces? Who will protect us from the tens of thousands of ticking bombs that will be found at the foot of our children's rooms and bedrooms? For 20 years we were scared to death of them, 20 years we were warned about them, since the Second Intifada we have not allowed them to stay here (overnight) and suddenly the danger was gone and with it, the ban on staying overnight in Israel. Many viruses have since spread between the Jordan (River) and the (Mediterranean) sea, Israel and the Palestinian Authority gathered under a heavy degree of distress and anxiety. These were the quietest months in the region in years. The borders of Israel, its cities and its villages; The refugee camps, cities of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, all knew relative peace they had not known for a long time. An invisible hand stopped the fire, the (explosive) balloons and the rockets, as well as the arrests and assassinations. On the occasion of a plague, there was respite. It still persists. That, too, will probably pass and disappear. And maybe not. At the same time, at the forefront of the battle against the plague were Arab doctors, nurses, pharmacists, sanitaries and auxiliary workers. The mass media, the one which never sees them and their people, the one which in normal times, does not pay them any attention, suddenly felt a respect and appreciation for them. Suddenly Arabs were human beings, perhaps for the first time in their history. An Arab epidemiologist or hospital director is yet considered to be an expert enough to appear as an expert in their field, but suddenly photos of Arabs are displayed on the front page of Yedioth Ahronoth, and they are not terrorists. Would you believe it? Even among the torch bearers (of Independence Day ceremony), the summit of Zionist state ceremonies, this year there will be an Arab representative, not for the first time, of course, but this year it will not be a "good Arab" or collaborator, but a medical staff member, chosen for his dedication and not for his "loyalty." Alongside this, another surprising phenomenon occurred, which is still difficult to assess: for the first time in their history, Israelis felt like Palestinians. Not really, but still: lockdown, cufew, roadblocks and unemployment in alarming amounts. They knew it was temporary, the purpose was justified - the opposite of the occupation - but they nevertheless tasted the taste of a little occupation. Will it help them feel a touch of identification with the Palestinian victims? Will the Israelis internalize that what they have experienced here for two months under deluxe conditions, the Palestinians have been experiencing for more than 50 years in abusive and humiliating conditions? Very doubtful, but maybe. Buds were seen in the country. Was it also time for a nightingale? Very doubtfully. Corona has advanced us one millimeter towards the one-state solution, there probably no longer remains any other solution. A very small step for man, the tiny footstep for humanity. A fragile and definitely reversible footstep. Israeli Arabs have for a moment been portrayed as human beings like us, exposed to the same danger, dealing with it as we are, and, fortunately, not spreading it more than we are. Terrorism in the Occupied Territories is dead, the occupation on both sides of the line has become civil, as in a normal country, even with flakes of medical aid here and there. Gaza remains in prison, the settlers, who do not miss any opportunity for violence, even in the face of the plague, beat, destroy and steal more than usual, and Israel did not consider for a moment any corona gestures, such as the release of prisoners. But in the air, there was momentarily blowing hope. Will the Israelis draw the conclusions from these tiny developments? Was the seed for the most fateful perceptual change that has ever taken place planted, which will make Israelis realize that Palestinians are just as much human beings as they are, with the same dreams and rights? There is no room for great expectations. The agents of wars and hatred, nationalism and racism, are still strong as they were before. Still, two peoples, one plague, one state. The one country, where both nations live under three regimes, stopped for a moment from its crazy race for arms and blood. It will probably take a much bigger disaster to bring about change. We will take comfort in the little disaster that brought about an even smaller change and probably a passing one. Such is the joy of the poor.
 

Interviews:
'Support for unity government reflects hope'
Knesset Member Yehiel Tropper, who was instrumental in getting Likud and Blue and White to ink a national unity government deal, tells Israel Hayom how he ended the year-long political crisis. (Interviewed by Moria Kor in Israel Hayom)

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